Method for removing shellfishes and crustaceans gregariously settling on rubber hoses

ABSTRACT

Maintaining the efficacy of rubber hoses that are used to transport oil from a ship to a shore facility by wrapping the rubber hoses, prior to immersion in sea water, with a strip that can thereafter be readily removed and replaced once it has accumulated an undesirable quantity of sea life.

United States Patent [151 3,655,445 Yamato [451 Apr. 11, 1972 [54]METHOD FOR REMOVING [56] References Cited SHELLFISHES AND CRUSTACEANSUNITED STATES PATENTS SETTLING 0N 2,459,164 1/ 1949 Holst ..1 17/6 UX3,033,724 5/1962 Stokes ....138/129 UX [72] Invent, yamm, Tokyo, Japan3,321,924 5/1967 Llcidell ..138/110 x 3,428,092 2/1969 Skinner at al138/1 10 [73] Ass1gnee: Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan E I N[22] Filed: July 30, 1969 102 37: l 2 l 9 :6 1 I' APPLICAT O S 1 17/6usira ia 1 p 846,286 663,730 5/1963 Canada ..l38/129 30 ForeignApplication Priority Data Primary ExamiqerMorris 0. W

Assistant Examiner-Barry S. Richman Aug. 17, Japan Attorney Fred [52]US. Cl. ..134/42, 21/605 R, 119/4, 57 B TRACT 1344,134 6,137 15,138110 H[51] Int. Cl ...B08b 7/00 Mamtalmng, the f of rubber that are to 58 1Field of Search ..134/4, 9, 42, 6; 21/603, 60.5 R; transport 011 from aShip to a Show facility y pp g the rubber hoses, prior to immersion insea water, with a strip that can thereafter be readily removed andreplaced once it has accumulated an undesirable quantity of sea life.

1 Claim, No Drawings.

METHOD FOR REMOVING SHELLFISHES AND CRUSTACEANS GREGARIOUSLY SE'ITLINGON RUBBER ROSES This invention relates to a method for removingshellfishes and crustaceans clustering on a rubber hose used in seawater, and more particularly it relates to a method for removing sealife growing gregariously on a rubber hose, which comprises wrapping asea water-resistant strip sheet around the rubber hose before it is putin service and then taking off the strip sheet from the said rubber hosewhen shellfishes and crustaceans cling so thick on the surface of thesaid strip that it becomes almost impossible for the hose to bear theweight of the shellfishes and crustaceans.

Since the capacity of petroleum refineries has been greatly increasedwith the recent development of the petroleum industry, petroleumtransportation is frequently carried out by means of large capacity oiltankers. In such a situation, it often happens that the large capacityoil tankers are difficult to bring alongside a wharf which is near thelocation of oil storage tanks, due to the depth of a harbor. In order toovercome such difficulty, the oil tankers must be anchored at a berthlocated offshore and must be connected by several rubber hoses to amooring buoy floating at the berth, which is in turn connected tostorage tanks on the shore through steel tubes laid on the sea bottom.Rubber hoses having an outside diameter as large as about 500 mm and alength as long as about 30 m are used, depending upon the circumstances.When such hoses are used for a long period of time under the seasurface, sea life, i.e., such shellfishes as mussels and suchcrustaceans as barnacles, settle gregariously on the hoses.

If a considerable amount of shellfishes and crustaceans settle on thehoses, the rubber hoses are deformed by the weight, and at the same timean abnormal stress is exerted on the said mooring buoy floating at theoff-shore berth. Consequently, mooring wire ropes on the buoy aresometimes broken, or joints of the rubber hoses are damaged, resultingin wear and tear or rupture of the rubber hoses themselves. Furthermore,various troubles or disasters may thereafter be brought about at anymoment.

Thus, rubber hoses in sea water must be frequently inspected, and whenthe clustering of the living things on the rubber hose is found to betoo thick, the job of removing the sea life from the rubber hoses mustbe carried out by divers. This job is very difficult and requires muchlabor. Sometimes, the rubber surfaces are damaged by a scraping tool.

To solve this problem, attempts have been made to apply to the surfaceof the rubber hose various coating materials which seem to be dislikedby sea life, but no satisfactory method has been found.

The present inventor has conceived the method of the present inventionto these disadvantages.

According to the present invention, there is provided a method forremoving sea life settling gregariously on a rubber hose, whichcomprises wrapping in advance, a sea water-resistant strip sheet aroundthe rubber hose to be used in sea water and taking off the said stripsheet wrapping when the sea life clings so thickly to the strip sheetsurface that the removal of them becomes necessary.

According to the present invention, the strip sheets are composed ofsuch sea water-resistant thick films of polyvinyl chloride,polyvinylidene chloride, polyethylene, polypropylene or woven cloth ofmonofilaments made from any one of the said synthetic resins and wrappedaround the rubber hose at a width desired according to the diameter ofthe said rubber hose to cover the entire surface of the hose before itis put in service, and then the wrapped rubber hose is put in service insea water. When the settling of shellfishes or crustaceans on thewrapping sheet surface of the rubber hose becomes so thick that therubber hose can hardly bear the weight of clustering sea life, thewrapping sheet is cut off and taken off in sea water. Such a job issimpler than conventional one and thus can be effected in a shorterperiod of time with less labor.

It is desirable that the thus removed sea life, such as shellfishes andcrustaceans, are collected in such a state as they are on the stripsheet, to be disposed of on land. The rubber hose denuded of the stripsheet must be without any loss of time wrapped anew with another stripsheet as it is in sea water or after it is taken out of sea water.

What is claimed is:

l. A method for utilizing rubber hoses as oil conduits in a sea waterenvironment between an oil tanker and a mooring buoy which comprises:

a. wrapping said rubber hoses with strips that are resistant to seawater before said rubber hoses are immersed in sea water,

b. immersing the thus wrapped rubber hoses in sea water,

c. leaving said wrapped rubber hoses in the sea water until the weightof adhering sea life becomes unacceptably heavy,

d. removing the said wrapped strip with its adhering sea life from therubber hoses, and

e. repeating steps (a) through (d) in sequence any desired number oftimes.

